


The Middle Ground

by Kevlar01



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin is always losing his lightsaber, Angst, Fluffy, He just finds it endearing at this point when Anakin isn't actively in danger, M/M, Obi-wan can't even be mad, That Finger Brush Feeling, now with angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26353972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kevlar01/pseuds/Kevlar01
Summary: Anakin is always dropping his lightsaber. Obi-wan thinks it's on purpose at this point. It wasn't, or at least it wasn't at first. That time in the grocery store? Completely on purpose. *Insert Anakin's poodoo eating grin here*1. Middle of Battle2. On Vacation3. Diplomatic Mission4. Getting GroceriesBonus 5. Obi-wan drops his for once.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

1\. The Middle of Battle

Somewhere, in an unspecified region of the galaxy, on an unspecified planet, in an unspecified location, Anakin Skywaker was losing it. "It" in this case was his lightsaber. He saw each micromotion of his blade as if it were in slow motion as it flew from his hand. His mind raced. _Stupid commando droid. Lucky strike. It shouldn't have been able to get lucky you piece of bantha poodo--No. No time for that. The Force-Kriff commando droids. Commando droids everywhere can't focus on extra Force._ Said commando droids were quickly closing in. This battalion had had many more than usual and they had all immediately ganged up on Anakin while the rest of the droids went after his clone squadron. It was already an unfair fight. That was just salt in the wound.  
With his lightsaber now also in an unspecified location, Anakin backflipped away from the droids and as he landed, a whirl of blue and beige flew over him to engage the droids. _Oh good. He's here._ Anakin thought. This was one time he really was grateful that his former Master would be stepping in to fight his battle. They were better as a team. At least, Anakin thought they were.  
"Anakin!" Obi-wan called out.  
"Right!" Anakin shouted back. He held out his hand and called on the Force. The droids let out deep binary rumbles as their blasters and other weapons shattered before their photoreceptors. Their A.I was quick though, and they immediately started to leap out of the way of the still-armed Obi-wan.

"Not so fast, clankers." Anakin muttered, as he shifted his focus to the droids themselves. He was lucky that the other droids were exclusively going for his men in this moment, and that his men were having an easy time decimating them. The commandos almost sounded indignant as they were lifted off their feet and frozen in the air. Mechanized whirring could be heard as the droids tried to break the Jedi's hold on them. Anakin could feel the micro cracks and fractures that were already beginning to form under the weight of his hold.  
Obi-wan, for his part was now quickly disassembling the droids with quick slashes and stabs of his blade. The smell of freshly burned metal wafted through the air as sparks of electricity danced briefly along Obi-wan's blade with each kill. Anakin found it mesmerizing. Obi-wan practically danced as he obliterated the droids. He lept and whirled as if he had been rehearsing the steps for years beforehand. Anakin blinked, and it was over. Obi-wan was walking towards him with a gleaming object in his hands. Anakin's own lightsaber.

"This weapon is--" Obi-wan began to say.  
" _My. Life._ Yes Master. I know." Anakin groaned.  
"One day your knowledge will make itself known." Obi-wan grinned as he held out Anakin's lightsaber.  
Anakin reached out to take back his saber, his fingers brushing against Obi-wan's as he gripped the hilt and drew it from his gentle grasp. He could have sworn he saw a hint of red color Obi-wan's face as their fingers touched. His heart warmed, but he kept his face reasonably straight.  
"Thank you, Master." said Anakin.  
"Of course dear one." replied Obi-wan.


	2. On Vacation

“Hey, Obi-wan??” Anakin called over his shoulder as he looked at his suitcase. Shuffling of feet could be heard as Obi-wan came to stand in the doorway of Anakin’s room. “Dear one. My love. My life. Nothing on Naboo could possibly be so worrying to warrant that loud of a voice on the last night of our vacation when I am in the. Next. Room. Over.”

“Sorry master.” Anakin said halfheartedly, concern taking up most of his energy at the moment.. Obi-wan eyed him sternly from squinted eyes that hadn’t quite readjusted to the light. “What has caused you to disregard the sanctity of silence?”

Anakin couldn’t help but mutter about how Obi-wan hadn’t had a problem “violating the quiet of late night hours” the night before. “Mm.” said Obi-wan, “I heard that. I apologize for being snappish. You aren’t wrong padawan, but I was trying to rest. Can this wait until morning?”

“No, I really don’t think it can.” said Anakin, anxiety creepy its way into his tone. “I was trying to get mostly packed up tonight so we would have time to visit that musty old library you love so much one more time AND get breakfast before we left. But I can’t find my lightsaber!” he said, his voice dangerously close to creeping up another notch in volume. “I can’t feel it anyplace close by, I must have dropped it while we were out hiking yesterday.”

Obi-wan pushed his bangs out of his face, and rubbed a hand over his eyes in an attempt to wake back up. “Well, most lost things can be found by retracing our path one way or another.” he said. “Sounds like we might be going for a night walk.” Obi-wan gave Anakin and wink and a grin at that.

Anakin reddened slightly. “Oh come on master.” Obi-wan’s grin spread further across his face and he straightened up as he led the way out of their rooms and towards the entrance of the house they were staying in. “You got me up in the middle of the night. I might as well have a bit of fun while I’m here.” Obi-wan replied.

Anakin laughed at that, his anxiety ebbing now that they were actively solving the problem. He supposed he could have gone out on his own, but two pairs of eyes were better than one. He put on a burst of speed to catch up with Obi-wan and caught his hand with his, tangling their fingers together. Planting a soft kiss on Obi-wan’s cheek he said “Thanks for coming with me Obi-wan.”

Obi-wan chuckled and squeezed his hand as they started down the path they had walked the other day. “Like you said Anakin, I would like some more time in that musty old library that I love so much. Books made of flimsi and not stored in datapads are hard to find these days. Many of them still haven’t been archived meaningfully.”

“Why don’t they just stick them all on datapads and then let the books go free?” Anakin asked. His main problem with the library wasn’t the books, they were fine, and he liked doing research with Obi-wan and a reasonable amount of reading on his own time but the fact that he couldn’t freely touch and handle them in that particular library. Datapads did not have this problem. Books on the other hand; apparently he was always being “too rough” with them. So he went for Obi-wan’s sake and mostly read over his shoulder or enjoyed the resident cat. Petting the library’s cat was one thing he had not managed to do wrong yet.

“Lack of demand usually. And many of them are in languages that are hard to find translators for. Some are still unknown entirely.” said Obi-wan. “Most are accessible somehow through datapads, but must be gotten through libraries or databases that require paid or special access. This is one of the few places where one does not have to worry about knowledge being behind a paywall.”

They lapsed into silence after that. Their entwined hands swinging back and forth between them as they walked. “Keep your senses open Anakin.” Obi-wan reminded.

“Mhmm.” came Anakin’s reply as he continued to gaze into the forest, hoping to catch a glint of metal in the moonlight.

The moon had mostly kept its place in the sky by the time they broke from the trees and onto the lakeshore. “Aha!” called Obi-wan, immediately spotting Anakin’s weapon by the log they had eaten lunch at the previous day. Anakin used his hand that wasn’t holding Obi-wan’s to call his lightsaber back to him. He savored the contented hum of the crystal for a moment before clipping it back on his belt.

“We can go back now,” Anakin said, tugging slightly on Obi-wan’s hand. His former master was gazing out onto the lake. “Yeah I know it’s pretty but you were the one complaining about being up.” he said, hoping to encourage Obi-wan to move along.

Obi-wan just tugged him back to his side, and looked up at Anakin, eyes shining in the moonlight. He smiled. “Didn’t I say I was going to have a bit of fun if I had to go out?”

Anakin pressed into Obi-wan’s side. “I dunno master. Did you?” he asked with a grin.

“I did,” Obi-wan confirmed. Taking Anakin’s face in his hands he said, “and what about you? Would you like to have a little fun before we go back inside to sleep?”

“Yeah.” said Anakin, a little breathless from Obi-wan’s boldness. It always served to undo him a little extra and now was no exception.

“Excellent.” Obi-wan said, and pulled him in for a playful kiss. He nibbled gently on Anakin’s bottom lip before moving down to kiss his neck. Anakin let out a giggle as Obi-wan’s beard scratched him in just the right way and his fingers fluttered lightly across Anakin’s belly. “Hey no tickling!” he laughed.

“My apologies.” he said, pulling Anakin into a languid kiss.

The water murmured to itself behind them, and the trees stood guard as the pair traded lazy kisses that got deeper as the night wore on. Anakin’s arms found their way around Obi-wan’s lower back, holding him close, while Obi-wan’s hands found Anakin’s hair and shoulder. Obi-wan’s breath hitched as Anakin slid a hand under his sleeping shirt and up his back, leaving Obi-wan’s skin tingling in its wake.

In that moment though, Obi-wan realized he was still tired. They did have the walk back to the house and they were going to have to get up and go in the morning in order to make it to the library, breakfast, _and_ make it back to the temple at their designated time. Obi-wan was pretty sure no one was going to deny them a few extra hours of vacation but being an entire day late would be rather rude in Obi-wan’s opinion.

“Anakin.” he breathed as they parted. Anakin sighed. “I know. Lets go.”

Anakin held out his hand and Obi-wan took it. They walked back into the forest hand in hand, lightsaber found, and ready to face the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost one month later exactly haha. I have not forgotten this fic, and it will eventually be finished. **The Author's Last Words**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere in the Mid-Rim, the Negotiator and the Hero with No Fear are walking down a corridor. The Hero's footsteps are solid, confident, he is not yet totally aware of the exhaustion creeping in like fog on his companion. The Negotiator has been having some bad feelings lately...

3\. Diplomatic Mission

Obi-wan was not letting his feet drag. No. Despite the pull of the fog in his mind, he put one foot in front of the other as his current form of pointed resistance to that which was trying to drag him down somewhere he wasn't sure he would be able to leave. In an effort to help drag his feelings out of the.. nothing.. he spoke.

"We have had to resort to 'aggressive negotiations' far too frequently lately." Obi-wan said, his voice heavy as he spoke to Anakin, who walked next to him down the carpeted corridor. His footsteps were muffled but solid and Obi-wan leaned into him mentally, allowing himself to droop towards the support of Anakin's presence in the force.

"Have we Obi-wan? Have we really." Anakin had not yet picked up on Obi-wan's impending, silent, ever so slow in coming, crash. Obi-wan did not have the energy for his former padawan's jokes today. "I think so, yes. We nearly fought the people we have been sent here to form an alliance with!"

"Considering that most of our time is spent on battlefields master, I'd say the fact that we _didn't_ fight them was impressive."

"But we almost did Anakin!"

Anakin suddenly halted, and Obi-wan stumbled into the arm he held out to halt Obi-wan. "Master, they were pulling out weapons." he stated, staring at Obi-wan.

Obi-wan turned to face him. They were standing far too close in this blasted corridor and Obi-wan could feel the burning need to just _hug Anakin_ rise in his chest. Instead he crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Yes, but--" Anakin cut him off with a wave of his hand. "We used the force to hold them back while we left the room. I'm not sure why the republic wants to pull these people out of their neutrality so badly, but I say we leave them alone."

"They have resources that would be useful to us." Obi-wan muttered half-heartedly, reminding Anakin of the reason the Senate had tasked the Council with sending them.

"Hah that's what every diplomatic mission they send us on these days is. ' Skywalker! Master Kenobi! We need these people for their supplies! After that, we don't care what happens.'" responded Anakin, a sharp edge to his voice.

"You aren't wrong Anakin. Negotiating with a people who are ready to pull weapons over the slightest disagreement... They are people still, but there is no way that the elite class would allow for accurate representation in the Senate. The only thing that is in the favor of the working class here at this time is that they are not actively engaged in galactic warfare! The Republic would be coming in and disrupting the last stable portion of their lives. The force knows the Republic has enough issues with providing the aid that people need to thrive. We should be providing them the resources they need to establish a baseline of equitability for all beings here and accountability for those in power."

"Isn't that what we would normally be doing as Jedi?" Anakin asked, finally starting to feel that something about his former master was off. He reached out across their bond, curious at what was driving Obi-wan's simmering outburst.

"Normally yes, to some extent." Obi-wan let his gaze trail down the battleworn form of Anakin, mulling briefly over what could have been. His eyes caught on a suspiciously empty space on Anakin's belt. "Wait, what happened to your lightsaber?"

"Huh? Oh kriff!" Swearing, Anakin patted around his torso, already knowing that his lightsaber wouldn't be there and throwing a disgruntled glance back down the corridor. Obi-wan sighed. "Well lets hope the room is empty. I don't think they would be too happy to see us again, and really, I just want to leave."

"Obi-wan, are you alright?" Anakin placed a hand on Obi-wan's shoulder. He looked closely at Obi-wan, who would no longer meet his eyes. Not in a usual thinking way either, this was entirely un-Obi-wan like behavior. His master often looked in various directions that were not Anakin's while they talked but this time Anakin felt like he was seeing a break in Obi-wan's armor. Not just fluidly, through their force bond, but physically. Obi-wan looked smaller, the circles under his eyes darker. Tired. Like he knew something was coming that he couldn't stop and it was going to break him. Anakin wanted nothing more than to wisk him away to their ship as fast as possible but he still needed to retrieve his lightsaber.

"No, I'm not alright. I don't like this Anakin. We are playing into a long running trap. We are doing the dark side favors when we come to planets like this claiming to want an alliance when it is painfully obvious we are going to exploit these people further."

"We'll figure it out Master. Don't we have leave after this?"

"Yes, we do. And we need to talk in a place without ears." Obi-wan let out a breath, "Now go get your saber so we can go home." Anakin gave him a small smile and squeezed his shoulder before melting into the force to get his lightsaber back with minimal disruption. The gesture itself reminded him of Qui-gon and Obi-wan let himself fall into the warmth of nostalgia, and the complexity of the past, present and future. He closed his eyes and let the river of ghosts flow around him as he waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been awhile since I wrote Star Wars but I am really glad it felt like a good time to flesh out the dialogue I've had hanging out in my documents for several months now. I still liked the dialogue a lot so I didn't change much. Just added some details. The next chapter will be more crack-ish lol. Here I think Obi-wan says some kind of Anakin-y things and Anakin is pleasantly surprised to hear exactly what Obi-wan thinks of all this but also Concerned because wow he looks tired.

**Author's Note:**

> *insert meme here*  
> "Commando Droids." "Commando Droids Everywhere."


End file.
